Another Chance
by Exotos135
Summary: Takes place after "The Waiting Game." After Lincoln discovers Chandler's birthday party went horribly awry, he tries to cheer up the redhead in hopes of helping him turn a new leaf.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I'm very positive I know what you guys are thinking.**

 **"Seriously, Exotos135? You have a billion other characters to write about, and you pick Chandler? The jerk that made Lincoln work Lori's job to repay her debt? And who got scot-free from it?! Forget him! He doesn't deserve a story! All hail the lord and-"**

 **No, wait, Lincolnism is a thing I just made up with CoR, sorry! XD**

 **Well, I primarily am taking the time resting from CoR to work on other stories that would be interesting. And I have a couple reasons:**

 **1) Chandler is one of the few characters I haven't really used as much, if at all.**

 **2) I found out an interesting detail I don't think many others have seen: From what I remember (I haven't watched the episode since, and in fact I don't watch The Loud House on nick anymore, 'cause I'm not going to suffer through the rest of that channel's nonsense just to watch one good episode), Chandler's party was taking place in a sewage plant or something, so that Lincoln would get "crappy treatment" regardless of what he did.**

 **However, what about the kids that were invited to the party? What about Chandler, the birthday boy himself? What about the fact that for some unexplained reason, the party's taking place in one of the worst locations you could imagine, and nobody even minds?**

 **So, how about we explore what could've happened after Chandler left?**

 **After all, deconstructing episodes seems to be a thing nowadays (Looking at you, That Engineer) so why not deconstruct one specific detail about the episode, rather than the episode as a whole?**

 **But I've rambled on for long enough (and much longer than I'm comfortable with these authors notes) so let's move on.**

* * *

Lincoln Loud, only son of the Loud family, was walking towards the kitchen in a boring-yet suitably loud-Saturday morning. On his way there, he came across a very peculiar sight: His eldest sister, Lori Loud, not on her phone-an oddity on it's own-but reading the newspaper. Not only that, she seemed to be legitimately disturbed by whatever she was reading.

"What's in that newspaper, Lori?" the boy asked, catching his eldest sister's attention as he walked to her. "You usually never even touch a newspaper unless it has news about phones, so what gives?"

The young woman looked away, seemingly hesitant to tell the truth. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and answered, "Well, the top article is about how a birthday party taking place at a sewage site or something was abruptly ruined thanks to a malfunction in the system."

She looked at the ground somberly. "Several kids wound up injured, including the birthday boy."

This, naturally, shocked Lincoln. "Wait, a birthday party in a sewage site?!"

Lori sighed. "See for yourself."

The young woman handed Lincoln the newspaper, and as he read about the news, he grimaced in shock. The article basically talked about how, in a birthday party at a sewage plant, there was a malfunction. What sort of malfunction wasn't specified, but it ended with a lot of sewage waste falling on the visitors, the birthday boy, and even the cake.

You could say the party was "wasted," in a sense.

But nevertheless, alongside the mention of how most of the victims wound up injured-but none killed-Lincoln couldn't help but frown in sympathy, specially when the article confirmed soon afterwards the identity of the birthday boy: Chandler. Yes, he had been a jerk to him, but he didn't deserve... That!

He got so worried, Lori took notice and asked the obvious question, "Lincoln, do you know the birthday boy?"

The kid hesitated, since despite the fact he did knew the boy, he also knew that, seeing how things came down-getting free stuff from Lori, which made her have to work overtime, which in turn made Lincoln work in her place to pay the debt-the young woman would most likely, best case scenario, be upset and disappointed in the guy, and at worst, go completely bonkers.

But then there was also the fact he did need to tell her about it sooner or later, and she seemed to be in a good, understanding mood. It probably wouldn't hurt to tell her the truth, right?

"Well, remember that time I asked a lot of free stuff from you at Gus' Games and Grub when you were working as a waitress?" he nervously asked, earning a stern nod from his sister. Sadly enough, she still seemed to be bitter about that whole thing. "He's the main reason that happened: I asked all of those favors in order to get him

Lori took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead, making her brother think she may be a bit upset about the revelation. "Are you angry?" he worriedly asked.

"If you had told me that stuff back then, I probably would've been quite angry, at both you and that Chandler boy," Lori answered. She rubbed her brother's hair as she calmed his worries with what she said next, "But now that I find this out after reading the news, I believe we can safely assume karma did the job for me. She may have done her job a little bit too rough, though."

Lincoln lowered his head as Lori got an idea. "Hey, how about we go look for him, and you try to cheer him up after his disastrous birthday party?"

"Are you crazy?!" the boy snapped. "After all the free stuff he made me get him, which in turn made you work overtime because of debts, which in turn made _me_ work your overtime just to get you to go out do your stuff, you want me to cheer him up?!"

"Look, I know literally my plan isn't the best idea, and I probably wouldn't mind beating him up back then," Lori put a hand on her brother's shoulder. "But this is the perfect chance to turn this enemy into a friend. Now that this birthday party's ruined, he's definitely going to need somebody to comfort him. And who better to do it than the cutest little pretzel in my life?"

"How's Bobby going to cheer him up if he's living with the Casagrandes?" Lincoln pondered.

"I'm talking about you, Lincoln!" Lori gently jabbed her brother's shoulder.

"Oh, okay then," Lincoln frowned. "I'm not sure if this is going to work, though."

Lori smiled and brushed her brother's hair. "Only one way to find out."

 _Later, at the park..._

The siblings hid behind a bush and watched Chandler, now with a visible arm cast, try to get a watermelon bar from a vending machine one-handed. Naturally, this wasn't as easy as it looked, and he simply threw his arm up in the air and sat on a bench in defeat. Seeing this was the perfect opportunity, Lori and Lincoln exchanged nods before the boy walked forward and sat next to Chandler.

"Hi, Chandler," Lincoln nervously greeted. "How are you doing?"

The redhead's furious glare and ensuing refusal to look at the white-haired boy made it clear he wasn't very happy to see him.

"Well, as you probably remember, we didn't have the best first impression," Lincoln said, immediately earning another glare from the redheaded boy. "I mean, you used me to get free stuff, I only hung out with you to be invited to your birthday party-"

"That was a mistake."

Lincoln flinched and turned around to see Chandler, his hair covering his eyes, taking a deep breath before adding, "The birthday party... You and that friend of yours shouldn't have tried to get invited. It was a terrible idea to make it public in the first place."

"B-But, you invited everybody, minus Clyde and me!" Lincoln argued, trying to cheer up the redhead. "It should've at least been a little fun-"

"Any and all fun I had was completely lost when the incident happened!" Chandler growled, causing the boy to flinch. "Don't you get it?! Sewage landed on me and those who went to the party! I broke my arm, and several other people got injured as well! And now, everybody hates me for everything that happened!"

After that little outburst, Chandler looked back to the ground and Lincoln scratched the back of his head as he said, "Well, geez, after that reaction, I don't know what to say anymore."

"Perhaps you'd like to add an insult to my injury?" the redhead sternly suggested, rolling his eyes.

Lincoln shook his head. "Chandler, after everything that's happened, that's the last thing I want to do-"

"No, I mean it literally," the redhead showed Lincoln his arm cast more closely, revealing it had several insults written on it. "When I came to school to show my arm cast, several of your classmates came to me and wrote several insults and scoldings and all that on it. I allowed them to do it, since I thought they wanted to wish me to recover, but... Well, they weren't happy with the fact I did such a terrible party."

And the insults definitely showed that:

"You stink, literally,"

"The sewage was no place for a party!"

"Your party sucked, and you suck for it!"

Even Clyde had one: "Look on the bright side: Your ugliness was kept in tact."

Well, at least he was trying to be positive.

And then, Lincoln asked. "Was it really that bad?"

"The party was held at a sewage plant!" Chandler snapped right at the boy. "If that doesn't tell you how bad it was, then I don't know what will!"

The redhead promptly sighed and looked back at the ground as he begrudgingly admitted, "I mean, seriously, you and that dark-skinned geek pretty much saved yourselves from having a terrible time. Too bad I basically dug my own grave and made you two hate me by using you to get free stuff."

Then, Chandler showed his arm cast to the boy. "So go on, write your insult in here. I'm not going to let you waste my time with some chit chat just to get on my good side, then crush that trust."

Soon afterwards, Lincoln was handed a pen by the redhead, who looked away as the boy pondered what to write, if he should write anything at all. But one glance at his oldest sister's hopeful look later, Lincoln got an idea and wrote it down right away. Once he finished, Chandler looked at it... And he was surprised by what it said:

"I hope you get better soon."

No insults, no malice, nothing negative about it. It was a legitimately reassuring statement.

And as Chandler could only look at the message in confusion, Lincoln went back to the vending machine Chandler had so much trouble with before, and got one of those watermelon bars the redhead sought for so long. By the time he came back and showed it to the redhead, Chandler could only ask, in complete disbelief:

"Why?"

"Look, you used me, karma made you pay for it, there's no need to give you more pain than necessary," Lincoln smiled as Chandler took the watermelon bar. "I hope you get better soon."

The boy got up to leave, but then came back and opened the food bar, remembering Chandler would have a hard time doing that too with his condition. Then he got ready to leave again... Only to be stopped by Chandler getting up, blocking his way, then showing him the exposed watermelon bar.

"Do you want some?" Chandler asked. "You did something nice for me, and I wanna do something nice in return."

"Thanks, but I don't really like watermelon," Lincoln shook his head. "If you do want to do something nice in return, however, promise me that you won't trick people into getting you free stuff, and that you will stop bothering me, Clyde, and any other person you bothered before."

The redhead thought about it, and sighed, "Sounds like a lot of work, but... Sure, I promise you that."

Lincoln nodded and walked back to Lori, who hugged him as she said, "That's my cute little pretzel, turning enemies into friends with the power of words! I'm literally proud of you, Linc!"

"Thanks, but I didn't do anything impressive," the boy replied.

"Nonsense; you managed to talk with your enemy without it ending with you two fighting!" Lori replied with a smile. "Lynn couldn't do it, Lola couldn't it, heck, I couldn't do that until mom and dad outright forced me to become Carol's fencing partner. But that's another story for another day. For now, let's go literally home, alright?"

Lincoln just nodded, and as the siblings walked back home, Chandler watched them leave as he took a bite out of his watermelon bar. And unlike any other bar he had taken before, this one didn't had a bitter flavor hidden in it. It was a normal watermelon sweet flavor.

Which brought a smile to his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**That's right, everyone, I'm turning another one of my one-shots into a full story! Come to think of it, I have a lot of one-shots that would benefit from becoming a full story, don't I? Anyway, I had the feeling that Chandler deserved some more attention to try and turn over a new leaf... or be utterly trashed in the process, we'll see what happens.**

 **Also, Happy Thanksgiving!**

 **But for now, let's go!**

* * *

It was Thanksgiving Day at the city of Royal Woods, and almost every single one of the citizens celebrated the occasion: In their own special way. Some dealt with turkeys, some dealt with pilgrim images, but most of them kept one thing in common: Everyone seemed to be thankful, to someone else or themselves.

All except for one young Chandler. He certainly wasn't getting any thanks from anybody, anyway. And when he tried to thank somebody? They either refused the thanks, or just straight up ignored him. It was mostly his classmates who did this, though, since the memory of the birthday party was still remembered among them

Even though that was months ago. Geez, who knew some people held a grudge this badly.

Not that this clouded Chandler's mind too much, since he was busy with something else: Practicing his lines for his inevitable next encounter with Lincoln while he walked back and forth at the park.

"Larry, I'm really sorry I haven't contacted you since our last meeting, but I'd like to apologize for..." Chandler spoke to himself on the mirror, only to pause and sigh. "No, I can't do it like that, what if somebody sees me and thinks I'm being a coward? No, I need to try something else..."

Then, he stopped as he got an idea. "Maybe... if I do something nice for him, he'll see I'm honest about turning a new leaf?"

But then, he heard some laughter nearby, and once he turned around, he saw that there was what looked like a birthday party happening nearby. How did he miss it, wasn't a question he particularly cared to answer, specially when he took a closer look, and spotted a familiar face at the party.

The person was Luan, Lincoln's comedic sister, who bowed down and accepted the party kids' admiration and applause. The show went on a pause, and Chandler took this chance to approach Luan, who flinched as he casually said:

"You're one of Larry's sisters, right?"

"Lincoln!" Luan snapped in annoyance. "And who even are you!?"

"I'm Chandler," the redhead answered, immediately earning an angry look from the comedian. "Right, sorry, I have trouble remembering names."

If Luan's angry raised eyebrow meant anything, it was that the comedian wasn't quite sold on Chandler's explanation.

"Listen, I want to try and give... Lincoln a gift for thanksgiving," Chandler rubbed the back of his head. "You see, last time we met, he forgave me for what I did to him and expressed some compassion for me. Ever since then, I've been wanting to get closer to him-"

"Closer to him!?" Luan snapped, stomping the ground... until she got an idea. "You know what? I may be able to help you with that."

"Really?!" Chandler chirped.

"Yeah, you see, there's this mixed-family dinner our family's having tonight with the McBrides, and we agreed that each family would bring their turkeys," Luan explained as she handed the redhead 80 bucks. "However, due to our busy schedules, none of us could find the time to get the turkey so we can begin cooking, and that's where you come in: I need you to go to the market, and buy the biggest turkey you can get."

"The market?" the redhead repeated, earning a nod from the comedian. "Isn't that the place that goes utterly crazy when they sell turkey?"

"To be fair, everybody goes crazy over something no matter what they're selling," Luan chuckled. "But yeah, that's the place. But I'll understand if you don't want to-"

Without she could even finish, Chandler bolted off straight to the market, leaving Luan behind to finish with confusion, "Go?"

 _Later, at the market..._

Chandler found himself at the entrance to the market, where nearly a dozen people were already gathered inside. The idea that he could end up seeing the black friday-like madness that had befallen the place several times before, made his body shake in fear, but he knew that there was no way around it. Either he went in, and risked his life to get the turkey, or-

"Hello."

The redheaded guy jumped and turned around to see it was just Clyde McBride, Lincoln's friend. Though for some reason, he seemed to have trouble recognizing him.

"You're La... Lincoln's friend, right?" Chandler asked, narrowing his eyes as he asked. "Are you Clyde... Donovan?"

Clyde flinched and shook his head. "What? No, I'm Clyde McBride."

"Huh, so you're not the one who wrote that insult on my arm cast, then," Chandler sighed and looked away. "I'm sorry, a kid wrote an insult on my arm cast a while ago, back when the "sewer birthday" incident was still new, and I thought it was you."

"Yeah, Lincoln told me about that incident, he said that by Lori's request, he comforted you about the whole thing," Clyde answered, before adding in a dreamy tone. "Isn't Lori such an amazing woman?"

"I would agree if I knew who she was," Chandler rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I'm here to try and get the biggest turkey available, because one of La... Lincoln's sisters, told me that they forgot

"No way, I'm here for almost the same reason!" Clyde replied, putting his hands on his hips as he added, "Only I'm supposed to get it for my family. Hey, how about we work together to get the turkey?"

"Do you really feel comfortable doing that?" Chandler rubbed his arm. "Specially considering what happened last time we met?"

"Hey, that happened like a year ago, and I'm not someone who holds grudges," Clyde put a hand in Chandler's shoulder. "So, what do you say we look for the turkey together?"

Clyde offered a fist bump with Chandler, and once he thought about it, the redhead smiled and nodded before accepting the fist bump. And so, they headed forth into the market, ready to begin their quest for turkey! Not that it was very difficult, since most people were minding their own business at the store.

"Huh, looks like we're the only ones desperately looking for a turkey," Clyde remarked as he and Chandler. "Not that I'm complaining! Keep your eyes peeled, Chandler, we need to find the turkey before anybody else sees it!"

"Okay, but can I ask something?" the redhead replied.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Are you sure we're not running on squeaky, slippery clean floor?"

Once the duo thought about it, they tried to stop themselves right on their tracks, only to wind up slipping up and landing face-first on the ground, all while they slid until they hit the fruit section. Once their slip-trip was over, the boys slowly got up and dusted themselves before resuming their search for turkey, this time without running all over the place.

"So, how have you been, Clyde?" Chandler casually asked, scratching his chin. "Sorry if the question comes out of answer, I'm just hoping to try and start a conversation with you. Something that helps us pass time, you know?"

"I've been good, to be honest," Clyde shrugged. "You know, mostly staying at the sidelines whenever Lincoln doesn't need me. Not to say that I don't have my life outside of Lincoln's adventures, that would be ridiculous, but I'm not exactly the kind of guy who goes out on adventures on his own."

"That's a good idea," Chandler sighed. "Taking into account the sort of problems you could run into, going at it alone is... probably the worst thing you could do..."

Clyde, sensing some sadness in Chandler's tone, turned to the redhead and asked, "Why do you say that, Chandler?"

The redheaded boy sighed and explained, "Ever since the birthday incident, nearly nobody hangs out with me anymore. They either just ignore me or throw insults at my direction. And the worst part of it is, that no matter how hard I try to convince everybody that I've changed, they just don't listen to any word I say."

Once he heard that, Clyde sighed and lead Chandler to the fruit section of the market. Once they were there, Clyde took a quick look around to make sure nobody else was looking at them, while Chandler sighed, "What are we doing here?"

"I can't believe I didn't think about it until now, but we should try to be more sneaky," Clyde answered, taking another quick look around before adding. "If what you said is true, then if any of our classmates see you, they're likely going to go after you!"

"Oh dang it, I didn't even notice!" Chandler started to look around as well. "Alright then, with that in mind, how are we supposed to look for the turkey without being seen? There are several dozens of people in here!"

Clyde searched around the area for a posible solution, and he eventually found it, or at least thought he found it, when he saw the top of the shelves.

So he smiled with determination. "I have an idea."

Chandler, though, wasn't nearly as positive. "Is it a good idea, though?"

Clyde just casually went towards the shelves, with a worried Chandler following him as he said, "Of all the times you could show rather than tell, why did it have to be this time?!"

And so, the redhead followed the dark-skinned geek towards a shelf, then took another look around before they both climbed up the shelf, with Clyde having a much easier time than Chandler doing so. Once they were at the top, however, one look at the ground was all Chandler needed to get him to start sweating bullets. Not literally, of course.

"Oh look, I can see the ground from here," Chandler said with a nervous chuckle. "Let's hope we don't land on it by accident."

"We barely just got here, and you're already getting nervous?" Clyde asked.

"Dude, if we fall from this height, we'll most likely die," the redhead pointed out. "Either that, or we'll end up being severely injured. I mean, I expected this sort of thing to happen eventually, I just didn't think I'd end up doing it so soon. Specially when I just recovered from the broken arm."

"Listen, there's no other way around this," Clyde went to Chandler's side and wrapped his arm around his shoulder as he explained, "If we try to walk down the aisles, we could end up being spotted by our classmates, who could try to hurt you for the birthday incident, and maybe they'll hurt me too 'cause I'm a geek or something. But if we go through here, which is the only other way we can go, we could potentially fall off and get hurt. There's no other way to do this."

"Ugh, I know," Chandler sighed, then swallowed his fear and started to walk. "Come on, let's try to look for a turkey. It should be fairly easy from this height."

"Got it," Clyde followed the freckled redhead. "And while you're at it, try to keep an eye on the manager, alright?"

"Manager?!" Chandler froze in a panic.

"Yeah, the manager of the market," then Clyde exclaimed, "And there he goes! Jump!"

Chandler and Clyde held hands and leaped over to another shelf, just in time before a blackman in his 30s or 40s walked by through the aisle, taking a look at his surroundings as he went on to the next aisle. Once he was out of sight, the boys sighed, and Clyde explained thus:

"The manager is... well, the manager of this whole market. One time, Lincoln and his sisters got into so much trouble when they run into him. And when they inevitably made the market a mess... well, let's just say, it wasn't pretty. Point is, we need to find the turkey, and make sure he doesn't see us, got it?"

Chandler nodded, then pondered out loud, "Also, was it just me, or did the manager kinda look like you?"

"When you say it like that, we kinda do look alike, but that's an issue for another day. For now, we gotta find a turkey!"

The boys went forth with their turkey hunt, still holding hands as they leaped from shelf to shelf, looking for the perfect turkey to take home. Normally, being boys, they would feel a bit awkward about holding hands, but the fact that they were up where nobody would really see them, and the fact that either of them could slip off at any moment, made them consider and accept a truce until the end of the day.

Luckily for them, once they got close to the frozen aisle, they spotted it: The perfect turkey! A large turkey as big as an ostrich, and with zero tofu in it! And it was so big, two kids would be needed to lift and carry it, even further making their decision to team up a good idea.

"We found it!" Clyde exclaimed in joy. "We found a turkey big enough for both the McBrides and the Louds!"

"Yeah, look, I'm happy about that and everything, but we're still at the top of a food shelf," Chandler put a hand on his hip. "How are we supposed to get down there, genius?"

Clyde hummed. "I actually didn't think about that."

Chandler rolled his eyes... then spotted a pair of shopping carts underneath them. With this, he got an idea:

"How about we jump down to those shopping carts? I know it may sound crazy, but-"

Suddenly, Clyde jumped off the shelf, and took Chandler with him. But just as they started to fall, they were caught by two familiar faces: Lori and Becky, the latter wearing the market's uniform.

"Lori!" Clyde exclaimed in relief, just in time for his eyes to turn into hearts.

"Oh right, I completely forgot that you worked at the market, Becky," Chandler remarked as his cousin put him and the geek down. "Speaking of which, why is this place still open, and what were you doing here? Don't you work at the counters?"

"Okay, let me try to answer your questions in order," Becky took a deep breath, and then hastily answered, "The manager insisted this place stayed open so no "hooligans" vandalized it or something, I'm talking with Lori here to rest and not stress myself to death, and I do work at the counters, but I'm also working on the shelves to try work around the lack of personnel."

"Believe it or not, most people aren't willing to literally give up their holiday just because one man wants to keep the business open out of paranoia, even if that man is one scary guy," Lori added, before putting a hand on Becky's shoulder. "I was here talking with Becky about how Luan sent her cousin to look for a turkey."

"That and also scolding me for still trying to look for a boyfriend half my age, rather than equal or slightly above my age," Becky bitterly added. "Listen, we're kinda busy here, so if you have business to do, please go ahead and leave us alone."

The boys nodded and went forth towards the turkey, but not before they had a little exchange:

"A boyfriend half her age?"

"Don't ask."

Once at the place with the turkey, Chandler hastily grabbed it and lifted it up, while a short victory tune played... for some reason. And mere seconds, a flashing light and thunderous roar later, the boys were surrounded by several of Lincoln and Clyde's classmates, most of which were girls, and all of which looked utterly furious and ready to beat the guys senseless. Mostly Chandler.

"Please tell me they didn't just appear out of nowhere," Chandler said, his wide smile hiding his absolute terror.

"They didn't just appear out of nowhere," Clyde said, and once he got a look from Chandler, he stammered, "O-Okay, they did."

"Did you really think you could just come out and try to steal the best turkey in the market after what you did to us, Chandler?!" one of the girls said as they slowly closed in on the guys. "The only way you're getting out of here is with several bruises, and no turkey!"

"H-Hey, wait!" Clyde exclaimed. "He's just trying to help me bring this turkey to my house for thanksgiving, honest!"

"First the sewage birthday, and now you force a nerd to excuse your actions?!" another student hissed, before cracking their knuckles. "That's it, we're definitely gonna beat some sense into you!"

The boys closed their eyes as the students homed in on them, ready to get a beating. And there was a beating... but the lack of pain on their part made it clear that the redhead and geek weren't part of it. Rather, once they opened their eyes, they saw a pair of familiar redheads-well, familiar to Chandler at least-among the several unconscious students.

"Cristina? Lindsey?" Chandler blurted in surprise.

"You know them?" Clyde asked.

"He walked me back home one day after I failed one of my beauty pageants," Lindsey hastily recapped before hugging the redheaded guy. "And he really made me happy that day!"

"We still owe him one for that time, and it's time we pay him back," Cristina cracked her knuckles. "We're going to help you survive the way to the counter, just don't get away from us."

Chandler smiled. "Trust us, we won't."

The quartet sprang forth towards the counter, with their redheaded bodyguard girls ready to block or fight back against the kids, who got up soon afterwards and chased after the quartet for another shot at beating the boys up. As they ran, they went past Lori and Becky, who narrowly dodged the chase and hugged each other as the kids ran by.

"Oh no, those two are in big trouble!" Becky remarked.

"Why?" Lori asked. "What's literally the problem?"

And then the manager popped out of nowhere.

"He's the problem!"

The manager joined the chase, though he seemed to be chasing everybody in general rather than just Chandler and Clyde, so the boys and girls got an idea and separated, with their pursuing classmates stopping right on their tracks, turning them into easy targets for the manager to capture. So he leaped and crashed through the kids like in a bowling ball place, allowing the redheads and Clyde to reunite and run all the way to the nearest counter.

"Well, that was interesting, to say the least," Lindsey remarked as she and Cristina dusted themselves. "And luckily enough, we didn't have to get our hands dirty!"

"Thanks a lot for your help," Chandler said with a smile. "I don't even want to think about what they would've done to us if they caught us."

"Hey, it's the least we could do after you cheered up my sister," Cristina put a hand on Chandler's shoulder as the boys put the turkey down. "And trust me, this isn't the last time you'll see us. I still owe you one, after all."

"Owe him one?" Clyde asked. "You mean, helping us with the turkey and our angry classmates didn't count?"

"It's thanksgiving! Helping you survive getting a turkey at the last minute isn't paying you a favor, it's normal protocol!" Lindsey replied with a cheerful, casual look. "Besides, Cristina got a much better idea on how we can pay you back from one of her clients-"

This prompted Cristina to put a hand over her sister's mouth. "Lindsey, remember what we talked about: We'll keep it a secret for now. Which reminds me, we have to go home now."

The redheads bid farewell to the boys, and they got ready to buy the turkey... only for the counter lady to say:

"That'll be 80 dollars."

Their jaws dropped to the ground. 80 dollars for a turkey that size?! Whether it was cheap or not, the boys simply didn't have that much money to burn. In fact, they had another problem at their hands, judging by a large shadow looming over them. Who did this shadow belong to?

Why, the manager, of course!

"I knew leaving this place open was a good idea!" the man hissed with an authoritarian tone. "Do you know what mess you hooligans and your gang of troublemakers could've done to the market?!"

"Gang of troublemakers?" Chandler repeated. "Are you talking about our classmates? They weren't with us, they were against us!"

"They still wouldn't have been running all over the place if it weren't for you!" the manager grabbed the turkey and lifted it with one hand. "And since I'm assuming a pair of brats like you can't even pay for this turkey, then I'll give you just one warning: Get out of my market before I-"

"Before you what?"

The manager shuddered, and slowly turned around, until his fears were confirmed: Lisa's teacher-now dressed as a supervisor-stood behind him.

"S-S-S-Supervisor Shrinivas!" the manager stuttered and twiddled his fingers, dropping the turkey in the process. "W-W-What brings you here?"

"What brings me here?! How about the fact that the person who _forced_ this place open for Thanksgiving, even though we're supposed to be closed on holidays, isn't keeping his end of the deal in exchange for all the workers not quitting outright!?" Shrinivas snapped at the man, who shrunk down as the boys just stood nearby, not knowing how to take this scene. "I came to report Becky's progress on dealing with the customers and the shelves, because of the worker shortage, and I was expecting to find your on your office, like you promised."

"But-"

"And lookie here, instead of being in your office, managing things to make sure everything comes out fine, I find you out here, looking for "hooligans" to kick out of the market," Shrinivas narrowed her eyes. "Like every other dang day. Are you even taking this seriously?!""

"B-But Shrinivas, I have an excuse this time!" the manager pointed at the kids. "You see, these hooligans were trying to steal a giant turkey, and they could've caused a giant mess!"

"Why do you say hooligans in plural? I only see one over here," Shrinivas folded her arms and threw a glare at the manager's direction. "And this one is over thirty years old, and has a job he's supposed to be doing right now, if he doesn't want his workers to throw up their arms and quit on him for the holiday!"

Realizing the threat, the manager bolted straight back to his office, while the kids walked to Mrs. Shrinivas, who told them, "You're lucky he's that desperate, he usually either ignore his workers' complaints, or takes them into account, then proceeds to do his own thing anyway. Seriously, if he didn't pay and do his management job so well, he probably would've been fired a while ago."

"Thanks a lot for the help, Mrs. Shrinivas," Clyde said as the redheads nodded in agreement. "You really saved our butts there."

"Yeah, although I can't exactly let you go with the turkey without paying for it," Shrinivas pointed out. "After you all, you still have to buy it."

"I'll buy it for them."

Everybody turned around and saw Lori approaching, with her wallet in plain sight. "I was sent here to buy the turkey just in case you guys literally failed, but since you did find it and went through a lot, the least I could do is pay for the thing."

The boys exchanged looks of relief, and one payment later, Lori helped them carry the turkey outside.

Now that everything was safe, Clyde promptly asked. "So, what exactly happened between you, Cristina, and the princess-looking girl?"

"Stuff that I don't have time to explain," Chandler waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

"Now come on," Lori said, before lifting the turkey and the boys along with it. "We have a turkey to deliver!"

The trio exchanged nods, and so they ran back to the Thanksgiving families of McBride and Loud, where the families were having a bit of trouble waiting for the turkey to arrive. Mostly the Louds, of course, but the McBride parents also seemed kinda nervous.

"It's been a half hour, and they have yet to arrive," Howard said. "Do you think the boys are okay?"

"Relax, McBrides, Lori's at the market with them," Lincoln pointed out.

"But they're also there with Chandler, who I heard was a bit of a jerk to both you and Clyde," Lynn sternly added. "Even if Lori's there, how are you sure he won't try to do any of his dirty tricks?"

"He's changed, trust me," and then the boy looked at the horizon. "And by the way, there they come!"

Everybody turned around and, to their surprise, Lincoln was right: Lori, Chandler, and Clyde were heading back, still carrying the turkey in their hands. They seemed to be talking about something as they walked. And they were doing it in a friendly manner.

"And then, get this," Clyde tried to hold back his laughter, "Ronnie Anne got so desperate, she put on a turkey suit, and tried to seduce the turkeys into falling in the trap!"

"No way!" Lori exclaimed as Chandler held his laughter. "How did literally that go?"

Clyde shook his head. "It didn't work, what else could you expect?"

"Ahaha, that's priceless!" Chandler laughed out loud. "I really wish I had been there to see it."

"Guys, we're literally here already."

The trio handed the turkey to the parents, who started to cook it right away as the Loud siblings rejoiced... well, except for Luan, who stood stunned right when she was.

"I told ya that, like, we could count on Lori to get the turkey!" Leni remarked.

"Oh no, I just paid for the turkey, Clyde and Chandler were the ones who found it," Lori explained.

The answer to this statement was obvious:

"What?!"

"Yeah, in fact, by the time I arrived, they had found a turkey that was big enough for both families," Lori further explained, while brushing the boys' hair. "That, and the place was about to close and these two were about to be kicked out by... the manager. But we worked things out, and now."

Lori turned to Luan. "Perhaps you have something to tell Chandler, Luan?"

The comedian, however, narrowed her eyes and simply nodded yes.

 _Sometime later..._

"What do you mean you tricked me into getting the turkey!?"

Chandler flailed his arms up and down and stomped the ground in rage after Luan had told him that, yes, he was basically just used to get the family some turkey. However, as he did this, Luan found herself lost in thoughts of disbelief:

" _How is it possible?! Our family, me in particular, know how badly the market gets whenever people have to do their last-minute turkey purchases! It gets so bad, the police sometimes need to get involved! He should've ran the instant he got the opportunity!" "And yet... he didn't... he got the turkey... and one that was so big, both our families could share it..._ "

Suddenly, Luan slapped herself.

" _No! Stop that, Luan, don't let yourself be so easily convinced! Just because he got the turkey doesn't mean he actually reformed! After all, how do you know that he won't just bully or demean Lincoln the first chance he gets!?_ "

"Um, hello, why did you slap yourself?" Chandler blurted, returning the comedian back to reality. "If that's supposed to be part of one of your comedy routines, I think you need to show the set up, then the punch line, not the other way around."

Luan blinked twice. "Oh hey, what were we talking about?"

"The fact that you didn't help me like you promised!" Chandler snapped. "I thought you said that if I did this, it would help me get the key to figuring out how to make Lincoln see I turned a new leaf or something!"

"Oh, you wanted a key to that success? I thought you asked for a tur _key_ to success!" Luan quipped, and she laughed at her own joke before she suddenly got serious. "But seriously, dude, after what you did to my brother and sister, did you really think I would help you? Specially when you said you needed to get close to Lincoln?"

"No," the boy somberly looked at the ground. "But, ever since he forgave me and gave me another chance, I've been wanting to try and... how does that sentence go again?"

"Make amends?"

The boy flinched at the different voice, and looked up to see he was no longer talking to Luan, but Lori, who had her arms folded behind her back.

"Yeah, that!" Chandler sighed. "I want to make amends with him, and the guy with glasses that comes with him!"

"Well, the main problem would be that there would still be several dozen people mad at you for the whole birthday incident," Lori pointed out as she gently brushed Chandler's hair. "If you want to truly feel like you did good, then you'll have to make amends with all of them."

Chandler frowned. "But how?"

Lori smiled. "Well, I have a plan."

The eldest Loud sister whispered her plan to the redhead's ear... and he smiled before stating:

"Your plan's crazy, but it's worth a shot!" only to ask, "But... why do you want to help me?"

Lori's answer was blunt:

"Meet me a couple weeks before Christmas, and I'll explain everything."

With that said, the eldest Loud sister got up and walked away, waving goodbye to Chandler without even looking at him. And as he returned the waving goodbye, Chandler couldn't help but wonder:

" _What's she hiding?_ "


	3. Chapter 3

**Before we begin, I'd like to point out that I greatly appreciate all the favs, the follows, the reviews and all that, but I also appreciate patience, and I point this out because, due to several stuff happening in real life, I haven't been able to work on as many stories as I used to, except maybe Chains of Reality, but that's not really holiday-themed. So, if I spend a long time without posting at least once a week, please keep that in mind.**

 **Is that clear? Good, let's head on then!**

* * *

November had left, and December had arrived in Royal Woods. At least, that's what the snow-covered streets suggested. And of course, with the coming of such a holiday, some people were quite busy trying to get everything ready for it.

Among the people who were busy on the holidays were cousins Becky and Chandler, who were working together to set up a large tree in the middle of the living room. Though he was clearly half her height, Chandler still managed to help Becky successfully, allowing the duo to set up the tree without much trouble.

"And there we go!" Becky stated with pride. "The tree's all set to be turned into a massive decoration hotel!"

The young woman then turned to her cousin and rubbed his hair. "And it's all thanks to my little Chandelier!"

"Becky, I already told you many times before that I don't like to be called chandelier," Chandler gently gestured his cousin to stop. "And besides, I'm running late to go to a certain place. I remained here to help you, but since we're done, can I go now?"

"Of course you can!" Becky chirped.

Only to crouch down and state, with a blunt tone, "After you tell me where you're going."

"Oh, well, that won't be necessary, I'm not going anywhere dangerous," Chandler lied with impeccable acting, though that wasn't enough to stop Becky from raising an eyebrow. "I'm serious, I'm going to somewhere perfectly safe."

Becky gave her a cousin an "Really?" look, and he gave up:

"I'm going to the Loud house."

"I had a feeling that was the case," Becky got up and scratched her head. "Any particular reason you're going there, though?"

Chandler took a deep breath. "Well, while I was talking with... the comedian sister, the eldest of the sisters... uh-"

"Lori," Becky clarified.

"Right, Lori, she came to me, spoke to me for a bit, and she told me to go to her house in order to find out why she actually bothered to help me," Chandler continued. "Because first she convinces Larry-I mean, Lincoln-into forgiving me for being a freeloader, and then she helps me and his geek friend-Clyde, I think-to pay and bring the turkey? Something's going on, and I want to find out what that is."

"And I have no problem with that," Becky folded her arms. "However, the Loud house is a dangerous place, so if you're going there, you're not going without some special protection first."

Chandler sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Please don't tell me you're going to put me on a medieval knight armor again."

"Of course not!" Becky chuckled. "Everybody knows that once you do one thing one time, then it won't work again. No, instead-"

A couple seconds later, Chandler stood still, wearing a knight armor... and a little Christmas hat.

"-You're going to wear a medieval knight armor, with a Christmas hat!" Becky finished in delight. "That's totally different, and adorable! Okay, now you can go to the Loud house."

The freckled redhead growled inside the armor as he walked out of his house, and then headed straight to the Loud house, with slight difficulty due to the large amount of metal he was wearing. Not only that, but the armor was apparently so unstable, that as the boy walked, pieces and bits of the armor fell off, with some random kids taking the pieces whenever they got the chance.

By the time the boy had arrived at the Loud house, the only piece of metal he had left was the part of the armor that covered his crotch. He paid this no mind, though, and he knocked the door and waited for somebody to answer. And as he waited, he looked at his surroundings, just in time for a little window to open and allow... someone, to see who he was.

Then the door was opened by none other than Lynn, the athletic sister of the house, who got ready to punt Chandler's groin into oblivion. So she swung her leg, threw a kick... and she recoiled and hit the floor in pain, grabbing her foot as the metal part fell off.

"What were you doing with a metal crotch protector?!" Lynn snapped.

"Well, that's a funny story; You see, I told my cousin Becky, who I live with, that I was going to your house, and since she was worried that I would get hurt, she made me wear a knight armor with a Christmas hat," Chandler explained as he walked in, only to take off his hat and put it on Lynn's face as he added, "Like always, though, all but one of the pieces of the armor fell off by the time I got here, and the part that remained with me until the end just so happened to be the groin area."

Then, mere seconds after he took another step, all of the sisters, except Lori for some reason, leaped out of nowhere and pinned the boy to the ground with all their might. Even Leni was there!

"Whoa, wait a minute, something's definitely wrong here," Luna remarked before turning to her older sister. "Leni, what are you doing here, Love?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not, like, going to beat him up or something, I'll let you do that," Leni winked. "Instead, I'm going to throw several hurtful comments about his Christmas outfit!"

Chandler promptly said, "But I'm not even wearing a Christmas outfit."

"Curses!" Leni shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "Foiled, like, again!"

"What's going on here?"

Everybody turned around to see the source of the voice was none other than Lori Loud, sporting a stern look and folded arms as she walked towards the scene, growling:

"Why are you assaulting Lincoln's guest?"

"Lincoln's guest?!" the sisters exclaimed in disbelief.

Lori snapped her fingers, and her siblings left Chandler alone, allowing her to help him get up as she explained, "Lincoln's in the process of forgiving him, and he invited him here in order to try and make some progress into helping him turn a new leaf.

Judging by their expressions, the sisters weren't quite sure whether to take their eldest sister's words seriously or not.

"Sorry about my sisters' behavior," Lori threw a disappointed look at her siblings. "They can be a bit jumpy when it comes to people they don't like."

"Lori, we were starting to wonder where were you at," Lucy remarked in her usual stoic tone.

"Although, when you think about it, why are you coming to this jerk's aid in the first place?" Lynn inquired, scratching the back of her head.

"Isn't it obvious, girls? Lori's, like, become Charlie's subordinate!" Leni exclaimed, putting her hands on her cheeks. "She's joined the Naughty side of the List! And now she'll use her newfound selfish powers in conjuncture with Choo-Choo's freeloader powers to ruin Christmas!"

Lucy took out a notepad and pen. "Leni, would you mind helping me write a lighthearted story for Christmas time?"

"Anything to spend time and potentially, like, bond with any of my sisters!" Leni chirped as she followed Lucy upstairs. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to repeat everything you just said, but try to say it slowly, if possible, so I can write it down," the emo girl explained. "Do you understand, Leni?"

"Sure! Let me give it a shot!" Leni took a deep breath, and spoke, "Isn't... it... obvious... girls?... Lori's...like-"

Lucy sighed in frustration. "That's not what I mean by say it slowly."

"Okay, so that just happened," Lynn remarked, getting everybody's attention. "Can we go back to beating up Chandler? Clearly, Lori just came here to join the scene, right?"

"Are you literally deaf or something?" Lori sternly asked. "I just told you a moment ago that Chandler was a guest. He came here in order to try patch things up with me, Lincoln, and also find a way to do the same with his classmates."

"Get it, Lori: we can buy Lincoln trusting this guy after what he did to him, since he's a very forgiving and kind guy," Luan started, with the rest of the sisters nodding in agreement. "But how is it possible that you, the legendary human pretzel maker, would even want to see him again, let alone trust him?!"

"Well, how do I literally put it this way?" Lori folded her arms with a smug smile. "I do it based on the same reason we still trust you to be a good comedian, even after all the April Fools Day horrors you unleashed upon us."

Luan flinched, and looked at the ground in regret.

"Which is also the same reason we trust Luna with managing her volume, even after she once caused a blackout."

The rocker brushed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly.

"And why we trust Leni can make the best, most elegant dresses, even when she sacrifices our furniture to do it."

"Aw, thanks, Lori!" the fashionista stated with delight from upstairs. "That's, like, so nice of you to say!"

"And why we still trust Lucy with her occultism stuff, despite the supposed danger of some of her spells."

Lucy audibly sighed in exasperation from upstairs.

"And Lynn to be a good player, even after she's shown to be quite the sore loser and winner."

The jock folded her arms and rolled her eyes.

"And Lana with being a good pet caretaker, even when some of her pets are venomous."

Lana twiddled her fingers and nervously chuckled to herself.

"And why we still allow Lola to participate in beauty pageants, despite what those could do to her psyche."

Lola got ready to say something, but she remained quiet and looked away.

"And why Lisa's still trusted with her chemical set, even after her own experiments have caused us a big share of problems."

Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Touche."

"And most importantly, why mom and dad still put me in charge whenever they go out, even when my methods are not the best, and even when things go awry in the end." Lori finished, before crouching down and putting a hand on Chandler's shoulder. "And I'm sure you all know what's that answer, right?"

The other sisters exchanged looks, and looked at the ground as they stated in unison:

"It's not fair to not give them the benefit of the doubt. They deserve another chance."

Then Lisa pointed out, "Though, when you think about it, that lessons doesn't make sense for some of us-"

"Point is, if Chandler says he wants to change for the better, we need to give him a chance to prove it," Lori interrupted. "If he ends up relapsing and turns into a jerk, then sure, we can kick him out with no regret. But until then, we need to be patient, and see how this all goes, alright?"

The sisters exchanged nods, though hesitantly so, and Lori promptly turned to Chandler and told him, "Now listen, I need you to prove to my sisters that you're trying to turn into a good leaf, so apologize to them, alright?"

The boy almost looked like he was about to get angry, but then he took a deep breath and nodded. He then turned around towards the sisters, and stated:

"I'm sorry for coming here without telling you about it. I'm also sorry for what I did to your oldest sister here, Lori I think, and I'm also sorry I was a pain in the butt for your brother. I also apologize for getting his name wrong all the time, I'm bad at remembering names."

"Well, maybe we can help you with that?" Lola deduced, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Anything to make sure he doesn't become a pain in our butts."

"Yeah, try to guess our names, dude, and if you get them wrong, we'll tell you what our real names are," Luna stated. "Once we tell you our real name, it shouldn't be that hard to remember them, they all start with L and are four letters long-"

"That sounds a bit time consuming, don't you think?" Chandler pointed out. "I mean, whatever your sister has to tell me, it's more important than this, isn't it?"

"I hate to admit it, but Chandler has a point," Lisa said, getting everybody's attention. "Let's leave this for later, alright, Lori? Go and tell Chandler whatever you need to tell him, and then he can go through the eleven layers of redemption or whatever to get on our good side."

"Fair enough, if that's the literally only way things can proceed," Lori crouched down, lifted Chandler by the back of his shirt, and walked off to her bedroom as she casually said, "See ya, girls."

The sisters exchanged looks as the pair walked usptairs, went to Lori and Leni's bedroom... only to find Lucy and Leni in there, sitting on Leni's bed, with the fashionista looking on as Lucy wrote something down.

"Oh, hi Lori, I'm, like, helping Lucy with a story apparently," Leni greeted. "Do you need the room for you and your friend, though?"

Lori just nodded, then gestured the duo to get out, which they did shortly afterwards. With that done, Lori and Chandler sat on Lori's bed, and she said:

"Sorry about that, lately, Lucy's been gathering any help she can get in order to write a story for Christmas. You know how a dark poet like her has trouble coming up with lighthearted stories, specially for the holidays-"

Suddenly, Chandler freed himself from Lori's grasp and backed away a little, earning a confused look from the young woman.

"Okay, you helping me and... Claus... Connie-Clyde! His name was Clyde, right?!" Chandler remarked, earning a nod from the smiling Lori. "Yeah, you helping me and him carry the turkey was nice and all, but now, with all this "nice" attitude you have going, you're creeping me out."

"Sorry, I'm so used to being a hardheaded, authoritarian leader, that I'm not quite sure how a "nice sweetheart" kinda of person acts like," Lori chuckled. "But, right now, I need to make sure that you see me as somebody you can trust."

Chandler rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you've kinda been doing the opposite until now. How about you just act like yourself?"

"Fine then," Lori took a deep breath. "Now, Chandler, we have an interesting history together. First, you tricked my brother into getting you free stuff, typical freeloader business. Then, your birthday party goes completely wrong, and you end up becoming some sort of pariah, or if it's not that bad, then you still wind up with a ruined reputation. Then, I convince my brother to give you another chance, and you apologize, and finally, recently, you helped his friend, Clyde, get a turkey for the thanksgiving stuff."

"You know, besides the birthday fiasco, I wouldn't mind relieving some of those memories," Chandler chuckled and shook his head. "But why do you bring all of this up?"

"Because I want to ask you something very important," Lori leaned closer to the redhead. "How does it feel, Chandler? How does it feel to not take advantage of people for once, and instead work your way into being accepted by them?"

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to get the feeling it would be better if I just... disappeared from Royal Woods," the redhead sighed. "Ever since the sewage plant birthday fiasco, none of my classmates even want to try and move past it. I know a lot of people were hurt by it, but that was several months ago! Many other things have happened since then, and yet people still bring it up like it happened yesterday!"

The boy put his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. "Sometimes I wonder if my classmates secretly hated me all along, and they're just using the incident as an excuse to take their anger out on me."

Lori leaned back against the wall. "I know exactly how that feels."

Chandler immediately looked back at the oldest sister. "You do? How?!"

"'Cause I used to be just like you: A petty freeloader who took advantage of other people just to get what she wants," Lori sighed and looked at the ground in regret. "Except, from what I remember, I was even worse."

 _Lori's memory..._

A younger Lori, wearing braces and with a bit messier hair, was checking her locker when she was approached by a younger Becky, who was holding a pile of books.

"Alright, here are the books that you told me you needed for next week's exam, Lori," the Becky lookalike stated as she put the books on the ground. "Now can you give me that recharge card or whatever so I can recharge my phone?"

"Not yet," the younger Lori smugly answered. "First, you're gonna have to come with me and help me buy some stuff for the homecoming prom-"

"Wha-you can't just expect me to do that just for a stupid recharge card!" the redhead lookalike snapped. "That's completely unfair!"

"You wanna know what else is unfair?" Lori took out her phone and flashed a sadistic smirk. "Having a father who works at the biggest mobile store in Royal Woods, who will gladly cut down your cellular plan if you make me angry!"

"F-Fine, I'll help you but that stuff!" the redhead growled. "But first of all, how much are you gonna make me pay?"

Lori smirked, and next thing the girls knew, Lori strolled out of the store holding several boxes, while not-Becky was stuck on the ground, looking shocked and miserable.

 _Back in the present..._

Once the memory finished, Lori casually asked, "Have you ever tricked people into buying you the most expensive things at the expense of their wallets?"

Chandler raised an eyebrow. "No, I mostly just tricked people into getting me free food."

"Well, I was a materialistic jerk back then, so whenever I got the chance, I'd manage to get some random fool to get me stuff that I wanted," Lori sighed in regret, and turned to look at Chandler with a worried look. "Back then, I never gave a second thought about it, I just did whatever I wanted, and more often than not, I got away with it, no consequences attached."

Chandler turned to look at Lori as the girl finished, "But now that I'm older, have moved on from that lifestyle, and have been on the receiving end of the freeloading... I can see that what I did was terrible. Honestly, if I had the option, I would go back and convince my younger self to never engage in such behavior."

This statement prompted Chandler to bluntly ask, "What convinced you to quit being a freeloader?"

Though she was clearly surprised by the question at first, Lori calmly smiled and looked back at the ceiling as she answered:

"My sweet lover: Bobby."

 _Another memory..._

The younger Lori walked around the hallways, looking at her surroundings to see if she could find her next potential victim, when she crashed with a younger Bobby. This caused him to drop some books, with one of them even hitting Lori in the foot.

"Ouch, dang it!" the younger Lori yelled before snapping at Bobby, who was too focused on his book to notice, "Watch literally where you're going, you jerk!"

"Oh, sorry, I have a hard time looking where I go with all the books in front of my face," Bobby answered as he quickly gathered all his books and lifted them. "I have to bring all these books to a classroom, so I was also in a hurry."

"Well, whatever more excuses you got, save them for your sorry butt!" Lori growled, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean it, if you literally bother me another time, I'll my Dad to cut off your phone support immediately!"

Bobby, somehow, remained calm and said, "That might be harder than you think."

The teenager flinched. "W-Why do you say that?"

Lori could never be prepared for what the boy said next:

"I don't have a phone."

That statement utterly shattered Lori and her entire perception of the world. A teenager, _without_ a phone?! What madness is this?! Is this reality? Is this seriously reality?!

"Y-Y-You must literally be lying to me!" Lori exclaimed. "There Isn't a single teenager I know who doesn't have a phone! I mean, phone and teenagers are literally one and the same!"

"Well, you must see me as some sort of maverick then, because my family hasn't give me a phone of my own," Bobby answered, rolling his eyes as he explained, "They said something about a certain jerk living here, who uses her father's job on the phone business to boss everybody else."

Lori sighed, relieved that it at least looked like the boy didn't knew who she was. At that moment.

"You're that jerk, aren't you?"

Lori flinched and backed away a little, with the boy's expression remaining a neutral, curious one. The teenager stood still, not knowing what to do next, and specially not knowing what the guy would do or say next. That was, until she gritted her teeth and snarled, in an attempt to make herself look dominant:

"J-Just 'cause you don't have a phone unlike literally everybody else, that doesn't mean you'll be safe from my wrath, you know?! If you get on my bad side again-"

"You don't have many friends, do you?" Bobby casually asked. "In fact, you don't have any, do you?"

The younger Lori shivered some more and backed away, feeling some sort of dread towards the guy. Who was this person who not only didn't have a phone, making him immune to her threats, but also correctly figure out her hidden secret? What would he do next, ask her to be his girlfriend?!

"Who... who are you?" Lori asked fearfully. " _What_ are you?"

Bobby put the books on the ground, walked closer to the disturbed Loud, then extended his hand before answering:

"I'm just your friendly neighborhood jack-of-all-trades, Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago, Jr."

Lori found herself stumped as she tried to remember the full name, only to wind up shouting out loud, "Are you royalty or something?! Why's your name so long?!"

Everybody turned to look at the pair and Bobby raised an eyebrow, making the girl realize what she said, causing her to instinctively cover her mouth in fear. However, Bobby just laughed it off and answered:

"Yeah, that's what everybody thinks. Even I thought the same, since while Hispanic names are usually long compared to American names, I was actually pretty annoyed that Mom and Dad gave me a name so long, even I have a hard time remembering it. The mention I just did was a lucky break for me."

All Lori really got from that statement was that the guy was Hispanic. Great, first she had to watch out for his phoneless nature, and now she must watch her mouth not to offend him or his people.

"Just call me Bobby," the guy stated, returning the girl to reality while maintaining his extended hand. "What's _your_ name?"

"I'm..." Lori paused and recomposed herself before stating, with a stern tone. "Name's Lorelei Loud, but call me Lori."

The girl shook hands with the guys as she explained:

"My family's starting to get big, so using normal names may eventually get difficult to keep track of. So, Mom and Dad implemented a naming system to make remembering our names easier: We use names that are 4 letters long, and start with L. So far, there's me, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn. Whoever's coming next will probably use the naming system too, but-"

"I like your name," Bobby interrupted, causing the girl to flinch and blush. "Or, in this case, I guess It's more like a nickname? Eitherway, I like it!"

Lori promptly released her hand from Bobby's grasp and hissed, "W-Whatever! Flattering me won't make me give you any special treatment or something! I mean it, if you get me on my bad side, you're literally gonna regret it!"

Bobby grabbed and lifted his books before walking past Lori, all while saying, "You realize acting this jumpy makes you look desperate, rather than intimidating, right?"

Lori flinched again, and she couldn't help but feel enraged at what the guy had said...

And yet, she also felt... intrigued.

 _Back in the present..._

"Ever since then, I got more and more curious about him, until we started dating. Once we did that, I found a greater value on earning things rather than having them be given to me," Lori explained before getting up and looking at Chandler. "And just like how my Bobby Boo Boo Bear helped me change for the better, I'm going to help you do the same."

"By giving me a boyfriend?" Chandler raised an eyebrow, then folded his arms. "If it's just your brother, then I'll have to decline. I have nothing against him, but I'm more into blondes than-"

"No, silly, I'm going to help you prove you've changed for the better, with a certain operation that Lincoln named," Lori took a deep breath and hastily said, "Operation: Prove That Chandler Has Changed By Becoming A Discount Santa Claus To Our Classmates And Think Of A Shorter Name For This Operation!"

The redheaded blinked twice in surprise.

"The title's a work in-progress," Lori sheepishly explained. "But, most importantly, it should definitely change your image in the eyes of your classmates. And I'm pretty sure you know what the operation involves, judging by the title."

"I couldn't quite hear it, but I still have an idea of what you mean: You want me to send gifts to each of my classmates in order to bring them happiness, which is somehow supposed to make them forgive me for the sewage plant incident," Chandler hastily recapped, earning a nod from the eldest sister. "However, how am I supposed to do this alone?"

Lori giggled. "You're not going to do this alone, silly, why did you think I tried to get you to patch things up with my sisters? We're going to help you achieve this plan."

Suddenly, the door to Lori and Leni's bedroom burst open, with most of the other sisters outside of Lucy, Leni, and Lily, crashed on the ground and caught the duo's attention. They then stood up and caught their breath before snapping:

"You can't put us in that plan without consulting us first!"

"Funny, 'cause if I remember correctly, we can't beat up normal people who go to our house without seeing if they want something either," Lori smugly pointed out, her smile growing wider as she narrowed her eyes and said, "And yet that's exactly what _you_ did."

The sisters looked away, and some even whistled, as Lori continuned, "Besides, if you don't wanna help, I got some other people who're more than willing to do the work for us."

Lori snapped her fingers, and from her left came out Lincoln and Clyde.

"Whoa, where were you guys hiding?" Lynn asked.

Lori opened her mouth to answer, only to sheepishly turn to Lincoln, "Actually, yeah, where were you hiding?"

"Beats us," Lincoln shrugged as Clyde took out a diagram, showing what basically happened; The boys somehow came out of nowhere. "By all accounts, it doesn't make any sense."

"Why does that sound familiar?" Lana inquired.

"And they're not the only ones offering to help," Lori added, before snapping her fingers again.

This time, Cristina and Lindsey came out... of a closet. Well, at least they didn't come out of nowhere.

"Cristina? Lindsey?" Chandler said in surprise before he went to the girls' side. "You're involved in this stuff too?!"

"I did tell you earlier that I had another plan to repay the favor, right?" Cristina giggled and walked to Lori's side. "While I was dealing with Lori with her phone problem stuff, we struck a conversation about how coincidental was that we both dealt with you: I asked you to help my sister, which you did, and Lori convinced her broher to turn a new leaf over your birthday incident."

"And here I was hoping that the birthday fiasco wouldn't be brought up," Chandler rolled his eyes and sighed. "But what convinced you to do this plan together?"

"We simply thought it would be a much better to do it together, rather than separately," Lori answered, brushing Cristina's hair as she added, "After all, if this little redhead can help me with my phone issues, then she certainly can help me with my problems with you, Chandler."

"Okay, so you have Lincoln, Clyde, Cristina, and Lindsey," Lisa recapped, getting everybody's attention. "Does that mean we can just refuse to help with this stupid plan?"

"But of course you can refuse to help, girls," Lori calmly answered. "After all, you're clearly too selfish and petty to consider helping somebody worth your time."

The sisters flinched.

"And since none of you are individuals, I wouldn't be surprised if you were all on the same page."

The sisters flinched again.

"The idea of helping someone turn to a new leaf must be utterly alien to you, too."

The sisters flinched once more.

"Specially around Christmas time, supposedly a time filled with nothing but joy-"

"Dude, stop, we got it, we're gonna help!" Luna desperately interrupted, with the other sisters nodding in agreement. "But seriously, dude, quit it with the roasting! I feel like I'm burning alive!"

"Okay, so we got everybody's help," Chandler remarked. "Just one more thing: How are we gonna know what to give to each of my classmates, and where they even live?"

"Remember how I brought up Bobby? He has a job as this year's Mall Santa, and as he hears what the kids want, his elf helpers will write them down and then send us the list in advance in order to prepare for the delivery night," Lori explained. "Once we package everything up, and make sure everybody's asleep, we'll get up and go to each and every house, deliver the appropriate toys, we'll all go to the next house, rinse and repeat until we're done with the list. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how are you certain that this won't fall flat in our faces?" Chandler asked, his arms folded and an eyebrow raised.

"Because I made sure to have as little to do with this plan as much as possible!" Lincoln proudly boasted. "I basically just came up with the title and the idea behind it, and nothing else!"

"So, what do you say, Chandler?" Cristina folded her arms. "Are you up for it?"

Lindsey clasped her hands and thought "Please say yes!" out loud and repeatedly. And that sight was seemingly all it took to convince the boy to state:

"Alright, let's do this!"


	4. Chapter 4

**And here's the penultimate chapter of "Another Chance", with the final chapter probably coming either this week, or at the very beginning of the next year. But first and foremost, I'd like to thank anybody who's been following this story up to this point. I'm gonna be honest, I had a feeling that giving this story the "turn a one-shot into a full story" probably wouldn't be well received, if received at all, but I'm happy to say everything's been well so far.**

 **So, thanks a lot for the favorites and follows, and without further ado, let's get on with the chapter.**

* * *

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and at the Royal Woods mall, there was a certain duo in the middle of the mall, ready to give it their all. These were Bobby Santiago, who sat on the Mall Santa chair wearing a Santa outfit, and Giggles, who was dressed as an elf that was holding a candy cane as an actual cane.

"So, be honest with me, am I too thin?" Bobby asked, taking a look at the outfit. "I get the feeling I should've gained some weight before getting this job."

"Don't worry, even if you had tried, there was no way you could've become Santa Claus-fat in a couple months," Giggles chuckled and raised her candy cane. "Luckily, the company had seen this problem coming."

The clown-turned-elf pushed a button on the Santa outfit, and the outfit immediately bloated up to make Bobby look like he was as fat as the actual Santa himself. "Ohoho my!"

"Neat, huh? They told me it took a lot of testing, but I'd say it was worth the effort," the elf then aimed at the door. "Now get in-character, dude, the kids are coming!"

Bobby focused back on the long line of kids coming towards, which did nothing but prove that this job was gonna take a while. Oh well, at least he didn't have to check the list twice, specially since a girl immediately jumped to his lap afterwards.

"I want a pig for Christmas, Santa!" the girl chirped.

"Ohoho, for a pet, I assume?" Bobby asked with a joyous tone.

The girl excitedly shook her head. "Nope, for dinner. Preferrably already cooked."

Bobby and Giggles exchanged shocked looks. This was the first kid to become part of the list? Oh boy, this was certainly gonna take a while. And a while it took, for hours passed, and by the time the last kid arrived, it was already night time, or close to it anyway.

"Did you manage to write down everything?" Bobby asked Giggles, who nodded and showed him the list, prompting the boy to hand her a piece of paper. "Okay, good, here's the location of Lori's house. Go there, and deliver the list."

Giggles read the notes, and gave Bobby the "yes sir!" gesture before she ran off to deliver the list. As she ran, the elf-dressed entertainer dodged all sorts of obstacles: snow, cheapskates, snow-covered cheapskates, and even carolers that just so happened to get in the way. And yet, despite the clear obstacles, Giggles managed to avoid all of them and she reached the Loud house soon afterwards.

She knocked the door, and someone eventually opened the door: Lori.

The eldest Loud looked around before spotting the girl, and then she leaned down and tilted her head. "You're Luan's clown friend Giggles, right?"

"Nope, I'm only Giggles from January to November, during December, I'm Jingles the Christmas elf!" Giggles answered, swinging her candy cane around as she pulled a little pose. "A joyous little elf from the North Pole who's come to spread Christmas cheer to the world!"

Lori couldn't help but laugh at the performance. "You really know how to be in-character, huh?"

"I've taken up acting classes," Giggles took out the list and handed it to Lori. "Anyway, it took us a while, but Bobby and I managed to write a list for you guys to begin your presents spree or whatever you're planning to do. Make sure to read it before you head out, you wouldn't want to make one mistake and have to do it all over again, right?"

"Don't worry, I literally calculated almost everything about this plan to make it almost foolproof," Lori pridefully stated as she read the list. "In fact, I even had Leni proofread it just to be completely sure."

The elf girl raised an eyebrow and took out a piece of paper. "Is that why the plan Bobby and I got has "Library" spelled as "Librarby" instead?"

Lori took the paper, read it to herself, then handed it back before stating, just as Luan arrived in the room, "Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard in doing that, but you get the idea. Anyway, thanks for the help-"

"Oh my gosh, It's Jingles! Giggles' twin sister!" Luan squealed in delight. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came here to deliver something, that's all," Giggles answered with a shrug. "Anyway, I'm gonna go back to the North Pole, tell Santa to check his list tonight just in case somebody new appears on it."

Luan suddenly got on Giggles' way and flailed her arms up and down. "Wait, can you tell Santa to give me an autograph?!"

"Yeah, try to be a nice girl for the entirety of next year, which includes no April Fools Day tomfoolery, and _maybe_ he'll consider doing your request," Giggles sternly answered, all while keeping a smile on her face. "That's what he's been saying ever since you first requested it."

The elf left the house, and Lori took the chance to bring Luan back in and say, "You've been told for years to quit with the whole April Fools Day nightmare schtik, and you still do that stuff?! Why?!"

"Oh, silly Lori, everybody knows that no comedian can resist pulling pranks on April Fools Day," Luan scoffed. "It's like asking you to get your face out of your phone's screen for a second, It's just not gonna happen!"

Luan then strolled away happily, prompting Luan to whistle, causing her siblings, Clyde, and Chandler to present themselves in front of her. This did cause Luan to be caught in the mob and thrown to the ground, but she didn't seem to mind, judging by her laughter.

"Okay, everybody, Bobby just sent the list of the kids and what they want," Lori said as she handed the list to Lisa. "While Lincoln, Clyde, Chandler, Cristina, Lindsey, and I literally go deliver the presents, you'll tell us what kids want what once we're at their house through our earpieces. Then we'll head over to the next house, and we'll repeat the process until the whole list is finished, got it?"

Everybody nodded, and this prompted Lisa to step up and say:

"I also decided to make your job easier by making a little... method of transportation you're bound to like."

Everybody followed Lisa to the backyard, where they saw a sled-like machine that looked a tad more futuristic than the current technology in all of Royal Woods. Not only that, but it also had what looked like a sack in the back, which once Chandler and Lincoln checked it out, revealed it was fully ready to be filled to the brim with the gifts for their classmates.

"This is really neat, Lisa," Lincoln remarked before exclaiming, "Hey, do you girls have the gifts ready?"

Leni, Lynn, Lana, and Luna ran inside the house, then came back out with the gifts, which they threw right into the sack until it was filled with them. Then the remaining sisters went inside and took out sacks of coal. They then walked to the back of the vehicle, and started dumping the coal in it's fuel spot as Lisa explained:

"And the best part of this is, It's powered by coal!"

"Finally we find an use for these things," Lola remarked. "Specially since most of us have some coal one way or another, with some having more than others."

Everybody turned to look at Lola, who just continued shoving the coal before everybody turned to look at Luan, who was whistling and looking elsewhere... causing her to shove the coal at random, even to the point she hit a cat. And so, with eveyrbody ready to go, Lori and the team got on top of the sled... then realized something.

"Wait a minute, I literally don't know how to pilot this thing," Lori remarked.

"That's alright!" Lisa exclaimed before taking out a manual. "I wrote a manual just in case something like that happened!"

Lisa threw the manual as hard as she could... and it plummeted to the ground in an instant. Lynn then walked forward, grabbed the manual and threw it straight into Lori's arms, with the young woman reading it for a moment before she hid it somewhere.

"Okay everybody, we're ready to begin the operation!" Lori exclaimed, with the sisters giving her a thumbs up. "But first, Luna, literally come here."

Luna obliged and jumped on the sled, landing right next to Lori, who whispered, "Does Luan seriously believe Jingles and Giggles are separate people?"

"Yup, It's amazing what a simple change of 'drobe and some make-up can do, right?" Luna chuckled, only to add, "Though, she might also just be playing along. With Luan, you can never know if she's joking or if she's being serious."

The rocker jumped off the sled and landed right on Luan's arms, with the comedian clearly struggling to keep her up as she shouted, "Eitherway, good luck with the plan, dudes!"

Lori gave his sister a thumbs up, and she sat on the driver's seat and activated the sled machine, while Chandler sat next to her. Then, as they got ready to fly off, Lincoln, Cristina, Clyde, and Lindsey waved goodbye to the sisters, who all waved in return except for Lola, who threw a raspberry at Lindsey, which the redhead eagerly returned.

And so, with that said and done, the team blasted off into the skies, while the sisters went back inside to get ready for their part of the plan. As they flew, Lincoln, Cristina, Lindsey, and Clyde leaned against the sides of the machine and looked at the city.

"Man, Royal Woods looks so amazing from here," Cristina remarked, putting a hand on her cheek. "I mean, it already looks pretty great while covered in snow in general, but it looks even better when we can see all of it here in the skies."

"Yeah, not to mention when It's night time," Lincoln added, Cristina nodding in agreement. "On day time, it looks fine, but nothing spectacular, but when night time arrives and people turn on the lights... It's just a marble to behold."

Seeing he had the girl's attention, Lincoln took the chance to say, "By the way, I'm sorry about the whole "video contest" deal. I didn't mean to make you feel like you needed to change schools, let alone make you feel uncomfortable."

"Well, It's a bit upsetting that you bring it up, but It's okay, Lincoln, I forgive you," Cristina said as she patted Lincoln's back. "After all, that was about a year and a half ago anyway, and you know what they say."

Cristina turned back to look at the speeding lights, causing Lincoln to ask, "What do they say?"

"Why are you asking me? I thought you knew," the redhead replied.

The pair exchanged looks, then laughed out loud before wrapping an arm around the other's shoulders and pulling them closer to each other.

Meanwhile, with Lindsey and Clyde, the boy clutched his stomach and looked a bit dizzy as the girl looked at the ground as hard as she could.

"I see... uh... A car, a house, and a pond!" Lindsey exclaimed. "What can you spot from the fast-moving things?"

"Lindsey, I'd love to play with you and entertain you or whatever, but I can't stand heights, specially heights as high as these ones," Clyde caught his breath before adding, "I swear, I feel like I'm about to lose my dinner."

Lindsey looked back at the city, and spotted a certain someone; Flip, the sleazy store owner. "Oh look, Flip's over there."

And then the girl got an idea and leaned Clyde closer to the edge, causing him to slowly feel his lunch escaping his stomach as Lindsey chirped, "Puke on the old man! Puke on the old man!"

Clyde almost stopped himself, only to realize Flip was the target, and a couple of moments later, Clyde's... lunch, landed on top of Flip, who looked around everywhere as the sled flew past his store.

"Heh, well, at least that's taken care of," Clyde remarked as he took out a piece of paper and wiped his mouth.

"Ohohoho, man, you just hurled that stuff right on top of Flip's head!" Lindsey chirped before hugging the geek so he would sit down. "That was amazing!"

Clyde just nervously returned the hug. "Uh thanks, but please, don't do that again."

Lindsey just giggled, which didn't calm Clyde in the slightest.

"Okay, who's the first kid we're supposed to deal with?" Chandler asked as he went to check on the sack.

Cristina heard from her ear piece, and repeated, "Her name's apparently Mabel Hirsh, and she wished for a pig. Not a live one for a pet, but a dead one for dinner."

Everybody turned to Cristina, and she vehemently stated, "That's literally what Luna told me!"

"And that's what's on the list, too," Luna said to Lori from her earpiece. "Apparently either the girl was oddly specific in what she wanted, or Giggles-"

"Jingles!" Luan yelled right on the earpiece. "Jingles hates being confused for Giggles, and you know that!"

"Fine, either the girl was specific or Jingles decided to go a bit more in-depth than usual," Luna corrected herself. "I say the last part 'cuz the rest of the list is fairly normal. Once you deal with her, everything else should be smooth sailing."

The redhead opened the sack and took a quick look around until he found the gift for Mabel. At least, that's what he presumed, seeing how the shape of it suggest it had a dead pig inside. That, and ice, since it felt cold at the moment.

"Okay, the gift's here, and it hasn't rotten yet somehow," Chandler said as he took out the gift and returned to his seat. "Speaking of which, how will we know when we're above her house?"

"Well, according to the manual, we input a character's name in it, press "Search" and it'll take us right into their house. Kinda like the internet, but with literally little chance to seeing a weird, disturbing part of the town," Lori explained. "Go on, write her name and see where it takes us."

Chandler wrote the fabled name, Mabel Hirsch, on the browser, and the instant he pressed the "Search" button, the sled... lead the whole team on top of a green house at top speed, with everybody having to hang on to something not to accidentally fall off. Luckily, once the sled stopped, everybody fall back on the machine, which felt surprisingly softer than It's mechanical outlook implied.

"I think we're here," Lindsey remarked, taking a look from the side of the sled. "Hey! I can see the ground from here!"

"Lindsey, get back here before you tip off and plummet to it!" Cristina shouted, her younger sister obliging as she turned to Chandler and said, "Okay, Chandler, It's your turn."

"Wait, I'm gonna have to go down there alone?" Chandler asked with worry. "As in, go down the chimney, put the gift, and then somehow come out of there without being spotted, all alone?"

"Well, the plan does involve _you_ being the one delivering the gifts," Clyde pointed out, shrugging as he added, "It doesn't work out nearly as well if somebody else does it, really."

"And besides, we have to stay back here just in case you need to leave or something happens," Lori explained, getting everybody's attention. "There's a radar in here that will let us know if somebody other than you is approaching the area, and before you ask how we'll avoid being seen, there's a camouflage option to make sure nobody can see us."

"And most importantly, we believe you can do this," Lincoln added, walking to Chandler's side and patting his back. "So go down there, put the gift, and we'll make sure to help you get out safely."

The boy smiled in relief, then jumped off and landed on the roof, and as the boy walked slowly to the chimney, Clyde took the chance to ask, "You did activate the camouflage mode before we left, right?"

Lori got ready to answer the question, and Chandler went through the chimney as the young woman realized her mistake. Chandler then did the usual Santa Claus schtik: He put the gift under the tree, made sure not to set off any traps, and quickly climbed back up the chimney and leaped back into the sled-mobile.

"So, how did it go?" Lincoln asked.

"It went fine, surprisingly smoothly too," Chandler answered, getting an excited smile. "But, let's not focus on that: How about instead, we immediately go get the rest of this list filled out?"

Everybody raised their fists and exclaimed "yeah!" in excitement, and so their journey to accomplish the task of giving Santa Claus some breather space begun. And though it took a while, the team did manage to deliver every gift to the list, give or take a couple. After all, some kids really were naughty, and didn't deserve the gifts that they asked for.

What they got, though? That's a surprise.

So, the only thing left to do was to bring everybody else back home. First was Clyde, who was left right on the porch of his house, with Lori about to give him a kiss on the cheek, only for the guy to kiss her on the mouth instead. The teenager, though, just decided to give Clyde that one bone and went off to the next house.

The next people to be taken back home were Cristina and Lindsey, who also landed at the porch fo their house. This time, Lindsey kissed Chandler right on the cheeks, and took the chance to boast about it:

"Take that, sis! I kissed Chandler before you did!"

Cristina rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Right, keep thinking that."

And now, Lori drove the slef-mobile back to the Loud house, and parked on the backyard. Lincoln jumped out, but just before Lori did the same, she noticed that Chandler seemed... troubled, somehow. Like he was missing something.

"Let me guess, there's one last gift you wanna deliver?" Lori asked, coming closer to the redhead's side.

"Well, yeah, but It's nothing too important, just something I wanted to give to a friend a long time before she moved away, a friend whose name I'm not comfortable saying," Chandler waved his hands in a dismissive manner. "But, you've already done enough for me, so just taking me back home will suffice."

"Yeah, right," Lori sat back on the driver's seat. "Just tell me where we're going and I'll take you there."

Though surprised for a moment, Chandler did remember that, at this point, he might as well accept any help he could get. So he told Lori the coordinates, and the sled-mobile drove off, right past the borders of Royal Woods, and into a familiar suburbian setting.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, who's this literally secret friend you just need to give a gift to?" Lori asked, gently hitting Chandler... in the cheek, thinking it was his shoulder. "I promise you, I won't tell anybody about it. I'm amazing at keeping secrets."

"Believe me, It'll speak for itself when we get to her new house," Chandler answered before taking out a small gift box from his back. "I can tell you this, though: She moved away so suddenly and without telling me anything. I just want to deliver her a "goodbye" gift so she at least remembers the good times we had."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What's in the box?"

"A gift, what else would there be?" the redhead scoffed before turning to look at the city. "Turn around in this corner and stop at the apartment."

The young woman obliged, and Chandler jumped onto a tree branch where he saw the friend he was talking about: Ronnie Anne, sleeping peacefully on her bed. He then slowly moved closer to the window, and gently threw the gift box through it, with it landing right next to the Hispanic tomboy. With that done, he went right back to the sled, and landed right next to Lori.

"I recognize this apartment, It's the house of the Casagrande family," the blonde lady remarked, getting an idea. "Was the friend you were talking about, by any chance, Ronnie Anne?"

"Dunno what gave you that idea, but you're right," Chandler sighed. "She was a friend of mine a couple years ago, and when I found out she was moving out of Royal Woods, I tried to make her a gift she would enjoy, but she left before I could deliver it. But yeah, she's a friend."

Lori smiled in a teasing manner. "Just a friend, or a girlfriend?"

Chandler blushed and shook his head before snapping, "Could you please just take me back home already?! Besides, you'll have an easier time asking Ronnie herself about it."

"Oh really? In that case, I'll literally squeeze every single bit of information I can out of her," Lori chuckled. "But for now, let's go back home."

Lori pulled the lever and the sled drove all the way from where the Casagrandes lived until they were back in Royal Woods. Once there, they slowed down so they didn't accidentally fly past the city and end up in somewhere else, like the North Pole or something.

"So, Chandler, how does it feel?" Lori asked, staying focused on the road as the boy turned to look at her. "Did it feel good become Santa Claus for one night, delivering gifts to convince people you were sorry about what happened?"

The freckled redhead looked at the ground, only to be overwhelmed by the altitude, so he simply backed away and looked at the night sky before answering:

"To be honest, I still think this plan could fail... but if it did, I don't think I'd mind."

Lori, naturally, became worried at the statement. "W-Why do you say that?"

"When you're somebody like me, who allowed popularity to get over their head so badly that they started treating people badly because of it, then once you start to feel sorry about it, people can be quite persistent in making sure you're never forgiven," Chandler sighed and closed his eyes. "Even when you try convince people you're genuine in feeling sorry about it, some people... just aren't convinced, and they continue to hate you either because the damage you did was that bad, or just out of spite."

The eldest sister frowned at the statement, feeling that it dealt with something rather familiar to her: Being ostracized and having her apologies rejected. Maybe she did some things wrong, maybe she made things she regretted, but if there's one thing she could relate to with Chandler, was being rejected, even if her regrets were genuine.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

But nevertheless, the young woman made good on her promise and took Chandler back to his house. As to how she knew how to get there? Let's just say she's had to go there herself to deal with Becky's... eccentricities at times. So she parked the sled-mobile on the ground, and Chandler jumped off.

"Hey, Chandler?" Lori blurted, getting the boy's attention. "Whatever happens tomorrow, remember that neither me nor Lincoln have any problem with you anymore. Also, try and think positive, okay?"

The boy nodded... then added, "And Lori... thank you. For giving me a second chance."

The young woman smiled and returned the nod before she flew back up, and drove all the way back to the Loud house, where she stationed the sled-mobile on the backyard before being surrounded by her siblings.

"Finally you're back, we were starting to get worried!" Lincoln exclaimed as he ran to and hugged his oldest sister, who returned the hug as he asked, "How did everything go with Chandler? Was the secret place one that we've already been to before?"

"Well, you and I have been to that place before..."

Lori looked at Lincoln's curious look and puppy-dog eyes, alongside her sisters' equal puppy-dog eyes, and the girl scoffed:

"Buuut, that's the only hint you're getting from me."

Naturally, the siblings felt ripped-off, though at least Lincoln laughed about it, knowing the girl was just messing around. Still, he probably wasn't gonna earn the answer any time soon, simply because he'd get the information squeezed in a second, so he separated from Lori and went back inside with his sisters. However, just before she went inside as well, Lori looked at the skies and hoped that things would go well on Chandler's end.


	5. Chapter 5

**And here's the final chapter everybody! I hope you all enjoyed this ride as much as I did, and that you'll enjoy the next "one-shot turned full story" type fics that'll eventually come out. But... well, that's all I wanted to say, so let's get on with the grand finale! (Unless you guys say otherwise XD)**

 **Also, sorry that I didn't update this in time for New Year, but there's a lot of things going on, and the average "Christmas" feel brings the jolly and procrastinating side of anybody. At least, that's what I think. XD**

 **But now that we're halfway through January I think, then It's about time for me to finish this story once and for all.**

* * *

In the Royal Woods school, or Royal Woods schools in general, there was a certain tradition: The students who got the best grades were considered "Nice" and were allowed to do their stuff as usual. The students who got the worst grades, though, were considered "Naughty" and had to remain behind to do some community service, which mostly involved helping get rid of the snow covering the place.

Hey, at least it was better than standing outside the halls holding a pair of buckets.

As you could probably guess, Chandler was among these students, grabbing and throwing the snow elsewhere in a way that wouldn't cover the streets as well. And although there were several other "Naughty" students surrounding him, none of them seemed even remotely interested in helping him with the snow, and he himself didn't seem interested to ask for help either.

However, there were some people watching him nearby, the Loud sisters. The older ones to be exact: Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn, the latter three watching him with looks of pity and sorrow.

"Doesn't this scene seem familiar to you, girls?" Lori asked, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder. "Does it bring back memories?"

The sisters looked at the scene one more time, and this time, instead of seeing Chandler taking care of the snow on his own, the girls saw younger versions of themselves doing the job, with an equally displeased look on their faces as Chandler's.

"Yeah, but they're not good memories," Luan answered. "Why are we here in the first place, Lori?"

"Because I wanted to remind you of one thing you all share: How you could change for the better, but were denied the chance," the eldest sister stated. "We were all on the school's naughty list at times."

Lori turned to Lynn. "Or, in certain cases, all the time."

Lynn flinched as Lori continued. "And look at what we've become: Whether the things we did were forgivable or not, the fact that nobody allowed us to explain ourselves, and potentially convince them to forgive us, made us unwilling to feel empathy, or even try to forgive those we see as having done wrong to us."

Lori somberly looked at the snow underneath them, which reminded her of Lincoln, somehow. "Even if those very same people are of our own family, we still refuse to forgive them, simply because we've come to accept that if nobody will forgive or be kind, then neither we'll be to them. Think of it like giving them a piece of their own medicine, or some simple revenge."

"Yeah, there's nothing more satisfying than getting revenge on someone who did something bad to you," Lynn remarked, sporting a satisfied smile.

"But it doesn't really work if the person you're refusing to forgive did nothing to deserve it," Lori stated. "And, need I remind you, before this plan started, I was the only one who ever knew about Chandler. He did nothing to any of you."

"But according to what Lincoln told us, he tricked him into tricking _you_ to give him free stuff!" Lynn snapped. "He threatened him in order to get what he wanted, and in the end, he simply left without facing the consequences!"

Lori just calmly asked in return, "Lynn, why are you talking about yourself?"

The jock rolled her eyes at the statement.

"Listen, what I'm literally trying to tell you all is that Chandler is going through the same thing we all did, and if we want to make sure that what happened to us, _doesn't_ happen to anybody else, we need to set a good example," Lori wrapped her arms around Luan and Luna's shoulders. "So, please, go talk to him, see if he's willing to accept help, and if he doesn't, at least give him some positive reinforcement."

"Okay, but can I ask somethin'?" Luna inquired before pointing at Chandler. "Do we still have to do it, even when 'omebody's already heading to see him?"

Everybody turned to look at the boy, and they saw that Luna was right; somebody was coming to see him. However, it wasn't Lincoln, nor Clyde, or even somebody who went to the school anymore. It was Cristina.

"Hi, Chandler," the girl greeted, getting the boy's attention as she took out a shovel from her back. "So, do you mind if I help you deal with the snow?"

"I don't mind; with how much snow there's here, a little bit of help is greatly appreciated." Chandler couldn't help but ask as Cristina began digging, "Why are you here, though? I thought you changed schools a long time ago."

"I did, but I never did particularly well at school, so I would always land on the "Naughty" list," Cristina explained, giggling a little before adding, "And I know that doesn't apply to me anymore, but I decided to help with the snow today just for old time's sake."

Chandler just continued to deal with the snow, not paying attention to the redhead, at least until she somberly added, "And for your sake, too."

The boy stopped and turned to look at Cristina with a worried look.

"None of us have any idea if the plan we did even worked; Nobody's been talking about the presents they got, and they seem mostly concerned with the gifts they got on the 25th," Cristina pointed out, focusing solely on her snow as she added, "It's almost as if nobody paid attention to the gifts you sent them."

"Well, I don't remember if you put my name on the tags, but maybe that's a reason?" Chandler guessed, shrugging at the thought. "After all, if they knew who sent the gifts, it's quite likely that they sent them to the garbage without a second thought."

The sisters exchanged worried looks, and bolted back home to verify if Chandler's suspicions were right. This left the redheads alone to deal with the snow on their own, and in silence as well, since Cristina couldn't think of anything else to ask that wouldn't sour the boy's mood... except for one thing:

"You know, ever since you cheered up Lindsey, she's been thinking a lot about you: Wondering if you're okay, if you'll be able to hang out with her again, and if you've been doing good since the last time we met. She even named the giant plushie you won for her after you."

The freckled redhead stopped and turned to give Cristina a confused look. "Did I really leave that much of an impression on her?"

Cristina nodded with a warm smile, and the boy smiled as well... only for a snowball to hit him in the back of the head. And once she turned to see where it came from, she saw the Jordans, both the girl and the guy, holding a pair of snowballs and laughing.

"That's for the sewage birthday incident!" Cookie growled before throwing another snowball.

Cristina immediately got in between the way and grabbed the snowball, before squeezing it into bits... to the amazement of practically nobody.

"Meh, it's not nearly as cool as it could be," the girl Jordan remarked, doing the "50/50" gesture before adding, "I mean, that usually works when you're squeezing something so hard it shouldn't break in normal circumstances, but when you do the same to something that breaks easily, it loses a lot of the impact."

Suddenly, Girl Jordan was struck in the back of the head with a snowball, with the rest of the classmates soon figuring out it was Cristina who threw it, while she held another snowball with a smug smile on her face.

"You didn't expect me to just let you insult Chandler like that, did you?"

The other students prepared their snowballs and got ready to fight back, only for everybody to flinch and be stunned by a loud whistle noise. They then turned around to see none other than Mrs. Johnson standing outside the entrance, looking at all the students with a stern look, but specially Cristina and Chandler.

"You two, to the principal's office, right now," the woman growled, pointing at the redheads. "As for the rest of you, continue digging!"

The redheads immediately ran inside and the rest of the students returned to their snow-digging job. And once at the principal's office, Cristina and Chandler sat in it as Mrs. Johnson sat on the principal's chair, with the man himself being oddly absent from his office.

"Um, Mrs. Johnson, if you don't mind me asking, where's the principal?" Cristina inquired.

"Oh, he said he had to do something over at some business place or something, so she asked me to watch over his office for him," "Anyway, I saw how you trapped and protected

The woman walked closer to Cristina, and leaned closer before whispering to her ear:

"Thanks for standing up for my son."

Naturally, Cristina was surprised. "He's your son?!"

"Of course he is! Can't you see the similarities?"

Mrs. Johnson hugged her son, and Cristina glanced at the duo before answering, "Nope, not at all."

"Well, either way, I'm thankful that you defended him," Mrs. Johnson separated from Chandler and folded her arms and shook her head as she added, "My sweet little Chandler has been bullied by his classmates ever since the sewage birthday party incident, and since his good-for-nothing father won't try to cheer him up, It's been entirely up to me and Becky to cheer him up."

"Man, that must've been rough," Cristina put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "But hey, at least you got some help from the Loud family, right?"

"Yeah, I guess they did help me when nobody else would," Chandler sighed. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they wound up messing something up along the way."

"And we're sorry about that."

The redheaded trio turned around and saw the Loud sisters-and Lincoln-standing outside. So they left the principal's office and reunited with them.

"Sorry about what?" Chandler asked, tilting his head.

"Sorry about putting your name on the gift tags," Lisa apologized, sheepishly scratching the back of her head as she added, "We probably should've given this plan a bit more thought before executing it. B-But hey, it was worth a shot!"

"And besides, dude, who cares if none of your classmates want to accept your gifts?" Luna added with a shrug. "They're rejecting the very 'deal of Christmas, and of good human nature in general, just to keep up their own petty little grudges! They're the ones who're gonna have a bad time next year, not you."

"Believe us, we've had more than enough experience to know how that's like," Lola added with a confident tone as she folded her arms. "When Christmas comes again and they wind up getting coal, they'll come running to your house begging for forgiveness."

"Okay, maybe not something that extreme, but you get the idea," Lucy shrugged.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Chandler asked next, folding his arms. "I thought you already did everything you wanted with me: You cheered me up when my arm was broken, you offered me to help you with the turkey during Thanksgiving, and you helped me rip-off Santa Claus to deliver gifts. What else do you want?"

And then Clyde arrived, bringing a bag filled with shovels as he said, "Okay everybody, I finally found enough shovels to help Chandler with his-"

Then he noticed the scene. "Oh, did I miss something?"

"Are you planning to do," Cristina asked, smiling as she finished, "What I think you're planning to do?"

Lincoln smiled in return and nodded. "We're going to help you and Chandler deal with the snow. It's the least we can do."

"No, helping me become "Chandler Claus" for a night was the least you could do," Chandler vehemently clarified. "Helping me with something that doesn't involve you is simply overkill."

"Kid, you're literally not getting out of this one," Lori stated as she and her sisters-and Lincoln-each grabbed a shovel. "We already did a lot to help you, only to wind up messing up at the last moment. We need to try and make up for it."

"Besides, some of us may've accidentally skipped on their duty, so this helps us get a weight off our backs," Lynn casually said, only to get a soft hit from both Lucy and Lincoln, prompting her to add, "But we're doing this for you, specifically."

Chandler turned to his mother, who put a hand on his shoulder. "Chandler, I think what they're trying to say is that they legitimately want to help you, not only because it's the least they can do, but because, as the ones who helped you feel guilt and actively seek to turn a new leaf, they want to show that they're there to support you, even though your classmates would rather keep hurting and insulting you over something that happened months ago.

The boy flinched and turned back to the Louds, who nodded in agreement with genuine smiles. Then he turned to Cristina just for confirmation, and she nodded as well. Now realizing what this meant, and what it meant all along, Chandler turned back to the Louds and sniffed before forming a smile.

"I'm not crying, honestly," Chandler answered as he wiped off his eyes. "I just got something on eyes."

Luan chuckled, "Yeah, you got tears, buddy."

"Now come on, dude, let's get digging already!" Lynn exclaimed. "The faster we get this done, the quicker we can enjoy some hot chocolate!"

The rest of the sisters cheered up, and all of them but Lori-and Lincoln-ran outside to the front yard of the school. Chandler and Cristina exchanged looks, then smiled once they spotted Lori and Lincoln sharing some chuckles with Clyde.

"You're not planning to make any hot chocolate, are you?" Cristina asked.

"Our sisters are so gullible and easy to trick," Lori answered, shaking her head. "I'd feel a bit bad for them, if they didn't deserve it. Now come on, let's go."

Clyde and Lincoln nodded, and went to help with the front yard of the school. They were soon followed by Cristina, who gave Chandler a wink before she left, and eventually Mrs. Johnson left as well, but not before giving her son some words:

"You have some good friends, Chandler. You should show them you're thankful."

Now alone, the boy saw no other option left but to go outside and head out to continue his snow digging work. At the very least, he now had an extra hand, or several dozen hands, to help him with the task. He headed for Cristina, who was digging with Lincoln and Clyde, only to stop for a brief and turn back to look at Lori, who was digging with the other sisters.

"Chandler, are you coming!" Lincoln called.

"Yeah, I am!" the boy shouted back. "I just need to do something first!"

The trio gave Chandler some thumbs up, and the boy nodded and immediately ran towards Lori, before leaping and giving her a tight hug. And it was so sudden, the other sisters stood still in shock, mouths agape at the scene.

"Thank you," Chandler tightened the hug. "For everything."

Lori eyed her siblings, who were still dumbfounded at what happened, and then she turned back to Chandler and returned the hug while replying, with a warm smile, "Don't mention it."

Once they separated, Chandler exchanged pleased looks with Lori, Lincoln, and Clyde, who all nodded at him with satisfied smiles. Then, the quartet reunited with the rest, and they started digging the snow together, more than likely to the utter confusion to the surrounding students. But It's not like Chandler cared anymore or anything.

After all, he had friends despite the odds, and that's all that mattered.


End file.
